Tafsir of Al-Ahzab 33:67

(And they will say, "Our Lord, indeed we...")

(And they will say...) is conjoined to (They say). The shift to the past tense indicates that this statement of theirs is not continuous like their previous statement; rather, it is a form of excuse by which they intend a type of gratification through the multiplication of the punishment of those who led them to this dire destination and cast them into that painful torment, even though they know it will not be accepted as a means for their own deliverance from what they are in.

(Our Lord, indeed we obeyed our leaders) — meaning our kings and those in authority over us who managed the affairs of the masses among us — (and our dignitaries) — meaning our chiefs from whom we learned the various types of evil. This was in response to what they had wished for regarding the obedience of Allah the Exalted and the obedience of the Messenger. Thus, the "leaders" and "dignitaries" are distinct entities; the expression of them through the titles of leadership and greatness is to strengthen the excuse and to make it more impactful in the context of humiliation and degradation.

They prioritized the obedience of the leaders in this statement because they possessed the power to strike them had they not obeyed them, making it more deserving of being mentioned first in the context of seeking excuse and gratification. It has been said that the leaders and the dignitaries are one and the same, and the conjunction is like the conjunction in the saying: "And she found her speech to be falsehood and a lie." The intent by them is the scholars who taught them disbelief and adorned it for them. According to Qatadah, they are their chiefs in evil and polytheism.

Al-Hasan, Abu Raja, Qatadah, Al-Sulami, Ibn Amir, and the general public in the mosque of Basra read it as (sadatina) — as a plural of the plural — which is anomalous, like buyutat (houses). It is said that it signifies plurality. Furthermore, the status of sadah (leaders) being a plural is the well-known view; it is also said to be a collective noun. If it is a plural of sayyid (master), it is anomalous, for they have explicitly stated the anomaly of fa‘alah as a plural for fa‘il. If it is a plural for an assumed singular, which is sa’id (like kafir and kafarah), it is also anomalous, because fa‘il is not pluralized as fa‘alah except in sound nouns.

(And they led us astray from the way) — meaning they made us lost from the path of truth through what they called us to and adorned for us of falsehoods. The alif is for the purpose of absolute termination (at-tatliq), as in (And we have obeyed the Messenger).